News
Issue No. 2 - September/October 2001
balfours on the move
As corporate turnarounds go, there can be few better. Only a few short months ago South Australia’s bakery juggernaut, Balfours, was on the ropes
Embarrassed by ill-timed expansion into the eastern states and suffering a cash flow crisis, the grand dame of the SA food industry teetered on the edge of dissolution. Staff sacrificed to keep the business going.
Then, following a management reorganisation and and what appears to be an injection of marketing energy and vision, the news suddenly got better.
Major international and interstate export contracts were announced, with Balfours closing lucrative deals to supply a blizzard of baked goods and avalanche of pies to national food retailer, Woolworths.
And after 150 years in the city, South Australia’s biggest bakery is on the move — literally.
Chief executive Malcolm Gibbons says Balfours’ restrictive city location has limited its growth during recent years.
“We have been operating under difficult circumstances and [the move] will free us up to develop new products and valuable interstate and export markets,” Malcolm says.
The Mellor Street premises in the City will go on the market later in 2001 before the shift to the new bakery in Dudley Park, formerly a frozen food manufacturing facility. The plant will undergo a multimillion dollar refurbishment before Balfours moves in next year. The company will also spend more than $4 million on new plant and equipment.
“We are working under fairly extreme circumstances at present and this new space and modern equipment will make us truly competitive,” Malcolm says.
“We have already demonstrated these past weeks that we are able to produce a range of quality products with real consumer appeal, which have positioned us for a sound future in the Australian baking industry.
“We are a household name in SA but it is our aim to ensure everyone in Australia can...
